Academy sergeant charged with taking covert women's restroom video

By Tom Roeder

The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.)

Published: April 29, 2014

An Air Force Academy sergeant faces up to a year behind bars this week at a court-martial, which will weigh evidence on whether he took a covert video inside a women's restroom and later showed it to female co-worker.

Tech. Sgt. Jose L. Vuittonet Jr., was charged earlier this month with dereliction of duty and indecent acts under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Vuittonet's court-martial is scheduled to begin Wednesday.

He's assigned to the academy's 306th Flying Training Group.

Vuittonet will be tried in a "special" court martial, in which the court operates with a limited set of penalties, lighter than those available to a "general" court.

According to court papers, Vuittonet is accused of taking the video of an unclothed woman in 2011 and showing it a female co-worker months later. An academy spokesman didn't know why charges came years after the alleged acts.

"It must be emphasized that an individual is innocent until proven guilty," the academy said in a news release.

Vuittonet has been serving in the 306th pending trial. The unit runs the academy airmanship programs, including parachute and glider flights. The academy didn't release details on Vuittonet's job, or how long he's been in the Air Force.

If convicted, Vuittonet could see a maximum penalty of a year behind bars followed by a bad conduct discharge.

Military judges are given wide leeway to decide penalties, with no set minimum sanction.